


An Important Lesson

by haropla



Category: Gundam & Related Fandoms, Gundam ZZ
Genre: Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-26 20:31:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18185381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haropla/pseuds/haropla
Summary: A drabble request. "Bright teaches a Gundam pilot how to tie their shoes."





	An Important Lesson

For the longest time, Bright didn’t really question why Judau went around in just his socks after his usual pair of shoes got ripped up by a malfunctioning door. The only time he tried asking, Judau used his socks to slide away down one of the Argama’s halls and Bright didn’t bother since. However, he did find it odd when Judau looked almost alarmingly pale when one of the engineers first offered to give him a spare pair they found…

...and now Bright finally got his answer when he found Judau hiding out in one of the storage rooms, trying to untangle the mess he made of the shoes’ laces. Ten minutes and one exchange of awkward stares later, and Bright was kneeling down, finally yanking the laces apart.

“Fourteen years old and you don’t know how to tie your shoes!?” Bright looked up with a raised eyebrow. To his surprise, Judau looked away, his cheeks a little red.

“It’s not like, a life skill or anything--I mean your boots don’t even have laces!” He reached down to try again, but Bright slapped his hands away. “But I can take care of it, you don’t have to--”

“The more you put up a fuss, the longer we’ll stay here, so just listen up and watch--and stop bouncing your leg like that, it gets in the way!”

Judau was about to start bouncing his other leg in childish retaliation, but Bright must have anticipated it, as he tightened the laces enough to cut off the blood flow. Ignoring the way Judau grunted in discomfort, he gave a slight tug on the laces to loosen them and quickly made two loops.

“First you make the bunny ears…” Bright paused, fully expecting Judau to laugh or snark at what he called them, but when he heard nothing, he pulled one of the loops over the other. “And then one goes over and under...and then you pull. Done.”

If both Judau and Leina wore slip-on shoes, then Bright could’ve excused this minor crisis as the Ashta parents not having the time to teach them. But he distinctly remembered Leina wearing sneakers for as long as he’d seen her. It was embarrassing to think the Argama that after surviving Gryps 2, the Argama crew almost lost the Zeta Gundam to some punk who couldn’t put their shoes on correctly.

Bright’s shoulders slumped. Compared to Gryps 2, teaching a child something this simple was barely anything for him to raise his voice over.

“It’s that easy?” Judau leaned forward, tugging on the newly-formed knot and practically marveling at how his shoe didn’t come sliding off when he started bouncing his foot again. “Let me do the other one.”

After standing up and dusting off his pants--he really should ask one of the other Shangri-La kids to help organize and do inventory--Bright watched as Judau drew his other leg in close and mumbled ‘bunny ears’ and ‘loop-de-loop.’ Being a quick learner, the captain wasn’t surprised when Judau did it by himself the first try.

He chuckled to himself when he remembered it took Hathaway the longest time, even compared to Cheimin. Bright then extended a hand back to Judau to help him back onto his feet. “Now, let’s both get back to work.”

“What work?” Judau tilted his head, only to laugh in Bright’s face when he saw a familiar scowl. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding! ...H-Hey, you’re not gonna tell Beecha and Mondo about this, right?”


End file.
